The midterm results shouldn’t reassure investors on a deal with China

Beijing thought it had the American heartland figured out. Tuesday’s midterm result shows it may have overestimated its leverage.

China’s main response to U.S. tariffs has been to slap its own tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports including soybeans, pork and sorghum. The idea was to raise the political cost to President Trump of attacking China by squeezing his rural support base. China was, until very recently, the largest overseas market for key U.S. farm products—particularly soybeans, America’s biggest agricultural export.